The
Doctor Who
formula is endlessly flexible. It’s a show where
almost
anything can happen. Nevertheless, there’s an unwritten contract between the makers and the viewers. We know that the flagship family show will never expose viewers to anything too traumatic, nihilistic or adult, nor will it be too childish or simplistic. But a brand-new programme, even if directly connected to the
Doctor Who
brand, is able to make its own contract with audiences.
The first attempt to expand the Doctor Who television universe was 1981’s K9 and Company.This drama pilot paired up two of the Fourth Doctor’s most beloved companions – Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen) and K9 (John Leeson). The fact that they’d never travelled with the Doctor simultaneously didn’t matter. Sarah Jane and K9 became an iconic double-act, returning to the main show as a duo several times.
The concept of K9 and Company was promising, with the intrepid Sarah Jane Smith as heroine, defending contemporary Earth from extraordinary threats alongside a child-friendly robot dog from the future. Unfortunately, A Girl’s Best Friend – the first (and ultimately only) story, which pitted our heroes against a murderous gang of rural witches in a folk-horror setting – did little to showcase the series’ potential. In hindsight, it’s easy to speculate about what the programme could have been. Perhaps, given a longer run, the show could have drawn more successfully on its sci-fi roots. It could also have used Sarah’s background as an investigative journalist to delve into social problems on 1980s Earth. But the pilot wasn’t followed up, so K9 and Company remains an interesting curiosity.